


NAME the World

by Arcanista



Series: Holding Pattern [11]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Canon Dialogue (Rearranged), Gen, Love, Names, Negotiations, POV Alternating, POV Third Person, POV Third Person Limited, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-08 01:06:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5477420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcanista/pseuds/Arcanista
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fallen child's plan has succeeded, and everything will end soon. There's no forgiving anything that happened, but the bindings must be released, and an accord must be reached.</p>
            </blockquote>





	NAME the World

**Author's Note:**

> _"so, i've got a question for ya. do you think even the worst person can change...? that everybody can be a good person, if they just try?"_

_ 0 _

_ (nowhere, nothing) _

Seven human souls (plus a little bit more), one boss monster's soul, and four ordinary monster souls (one a smidge determined, despite itself). That's enough right there to bring down the barrier sealing the underground away from the surface. It's enough to unite two people who shouldn't be alive; who aren't, truly. It's enough to reset the world. It's enough to _end_ the world. It's enough to hold it all waiting, cupped in the hands of someone who knows no power exists that can stop them.

It's enough to breathe the embers of a memory back into a flame.

_ 1 _

_ (a place without names) _

He awakes into darkness, lying prone against emptiness. Somehow, he has no trouble seeing at all. He raises his hand in front of his face and it takes a moment of staring at the soft white fur and neatly-trimmed claws before he realizes there's something very strange about what he just did. He looks at his palm, trying to decide what the strange thing is. But he can't tell, so he gets to his feet, standing straight even with no floor.

His arms and legs are so stiff, as if he-- since when does he have arms? Or legs? Or claws, for that matter? Asriel tries to plant his roots deeper into the ground, but there's no ground or roots. He looks down at himself, long floppy ears framing his face. A green shirt with stripes and legs and arms. No vines. No petals. Just... himself.

Could this be a dream? _Can_ he still dream, anymore? He can't remember the last time he slept. Stopped paying attention to things for a while, yeah. But that's not the same at all. That's not sleeping.

So it's probably not a dream. Does that mean it's real? He has a body again, an actual body. But not a soul-- he'd be able to tell that right away, he thinks. But he does feel different from before. Not quite a soul, but maybe the memory of what having one was like.

Whatever it is, it's enough to make him shudder when he thinks back a few minutes, a few hours, a few days-- of his own countless times twisting the world, resetting it in search of a shape that was if not pleasing, then at least _amusing_.

What's going on, then? Asriel tries to think back. Everything had been going according to plan-- the human holding his friend was just about to give up their own soul; it was about a second from just popping right out of their about-to-be-dead body (not the original plan maybe, but even easier). The king-- his _dad--_ had just brought out the other six souls, and those other people had shown up as a distraction. So he'd gone to grab the six, then-- then his friend grabbed him.

His friend. He tries to think of what their name is. Tries, but he can't remember it at all. But he knew it, didn't he? His friend grabbed him and took the souls away and said that they'd won after all.

They never let him win. He doesn't know why he's surprised that this time was no different. But he was so close... His friend took the souls and then they said they'd protect him and everything went black.

Is this protection? Asriel shudders again; the memory of a soul is enough to allow him to feel sick.

He guesses they've got a knack for really scary plans. Is this one better or worse than the one with the flowers? Better, he decides, because if not for the flower one none of this would have happened. And they're not here right now to tease him for crying, to praise how brave he is, to smile and squeeze his hands and wipe his eyes and make everything all right-- for a few minutes.

The last plan wasn't the only time they'd done that to him. He always ended up trusting them more, somehow, at the end of it. Looking at it now, he wonders if he should have. But they're friends, right? Best friends.

Then where are they? Why aren't they here? They must know where he is.

Someone, somewhere in the dark is crying. Asriel starts walking.

_ 2 _

_ (nobody, no one) _

Everything is over. It's their fault. Of course it's their fault. All they know how to do is ruin things. They cried and their mom died and nothing was right ever since. They ruined everything afterward; they at least _had_ a home and it was still family and they repaid all that by being bad, by fighting and forgetting things. They were never anything but trouble. No one wanted them anymore at all, so best just to go away and never come back.

Then they couldn't even go and _die_ right. It had been the right decision, they were sure of that as they ran away, as they stole some chocolate bars going to the mountain, as they climbed and climbed and climbed until they found the deep dark hole.

Jumping had been _easy_. It wasn't even scary until they could see the flowers coming up and then, right then, in that second--

Well, then they'd been scared. And then they didn't want to die. And then they hit and everything went black and everything faded except for a deep, rumbly voice talking to them, urging them to get up. They don't remember what he said. But they got up and they sure didn't feel good and they sure didn't know anymore why they wanted to get back up.

Useless at living, useless at dying. Great at hurting stuff. Ugh. They feel sick but there's nowhere to _be_ sick and with the way monster food works, they don't think they even _can_.

Then the one time they decided there might be a way to help people instead of hurting them, well, it turned out it was all just a great big plan to hurt _everyone_ after all in the first place. The flower's friend's plan, they guess. What a joke. They want to help people, they even feel every now and again like they might _want_ maybe to live, like it might matter to anyone at all if they died, and this is what they get.

Useless and worthless and no good at anything at all other than hurting people and crying and just _being bad_.

So they curl up tighter, wishing for the darkness to swallow them up, and they cry.

_ 3 _

_ (maybe, with what little power) _

Asriel walks toward the noise, feet pushing off of the nothingness beneath, propelling him forward. It feels so strange to walk, to put one foot in front of the other, to _have_ one foot to put in front of another. The feeling in his legs, the sensation of having muscles at all... it's strange, and much easier to think about than literally anything else.

It wasn't all that long ago he'd have given a a whole lot to feel anything at all. Now... well, it's still feeling things like they're coming from very far away, but that's fine. He doesn't want to be capable of true horror, not remembering everything he's done.

The sound of crying gets closer as he moves, heavy and gulping, the only noise in the whole world. Or whatever this place is. He still can't see anyone, but he's getting closer.

Crying... there's a big part of him right now that's an inch from bursting out and just laughing at whoever's crying. Making fun of them for being a wimp, for whatever's making them cry happening in the first place. For not knowing how the world works. And feeling that part inside him-- Asriel just stops short to let the wave of pure disgust grip him tight, then recede. This _couldn't_ be a dream, because in a dream of himself, he wouldn't still be... be... who? The flower, too. Asriel rubs his palm against his forehead, rubs the little buds of horns that never got to grow.

He _chose_ that name for himself, and now it's _gone_.

That can't be a coincidence, can it? It's still fresh in his memory, _being_ the flower, and hearing the human's story and feeling very very-- strange-- about the whole thing and at the end and then when he rattled off all the names he could think of (and he can't think of them now) and there was only one name at all the human heard. Exactly one.

The crying is loudest here, he thinks, but he can't see anyone. He turns around, looks up and down through this endless void. Nothing. So he takes a deep breath, and he calls out into nothingness, "Howdy!"

Silence falls. The crying stops and he still can't see anything at all besides himself. Asriel waits, thinking. So far as he knows, he's the only thing in the whole world-- such as it is-- with a name. That probably means something but how do you even _start_ figuring out something like that? There's someone here, anyway. It would be _rude_ to just say hi and shut up.

So he has something. He has something nobody else has. The flower he _is_ knows what to do with this-- hoard it jealously, hold it over the head of whoever's been sitting here crying like some worthless little loser, use it, exploit it. But the memory of what he _was_ knows just as well what needs to be done with this precious treasure. So Asriel speaks, and Asriel gives it away. "I'm Asriel."

The human is right there in front of him, getting to their feet, rubbing their eyes and sniffling. They're wearing the same old t-shirt as before, faded to grey, and battered sneakers with new laces. "You..." they say, looking him up and down, avoiding his face for more than a second or two. "Asriel," they say. "Remember that. But never seen you before." Their hands ball up into fists, then let go almost as soon as it happens.

"Yeah, uh..." Asriel rubs the back of his head. Well, _now_ what? There's two of them now, together in the dark. "Yeah. Do you know what's going on? I only figured out a little."

"No." The human frowns and turns around, eyes squinting, head leaning forward. If they see anything other than what he does, it sure doesn't look like it. "Turns out I was _stupid_ for going to see the king. Just doing what it wanted me to do. It saw something and pushed me out and then... then, here. Not sure what happened. Something with other souls. Can... can kinda feel them. Somewhere. Can't touch them. Can't see them. Think it wants to break everything. Dunno why it's waiting. Dunno what it wants. Think it just likes knowing everyone's scared." They grab onto their arms tightly and turn back to face them. " _Why do you get a name?_ "

Asriel can't look at them. "We're friends," he says, feeling the fur around his eyes grow damp.

The human advances on him, hands gone to fists again. They're shorter than he is but they somehow end up right in his face as they snarl, "Your friend's _awful_."

He can't help but start crying now, like a baby. "It... it didn't seem that way at first." He tries to stop but now that he's crying for the first time in, in forever, it's not going to just stop for wanting to be brave. "It, it really didn't..."

"Of course not." The human pulls back from him and sighs and throws their hands backwards. "What happened? Guess there's time." They sit, leaning back on their elbows and look up at him.

Asriel sniffles and sits down too, looking at the human. Are they not gonna say anything about him crying at all? He takes a minute or two more to finish, before nodding and taking a breath. "They... they climbed the mountain. And they fell. And I found them. I guess that's the short version. Um, they came to live with me and my mom and my dad. Uh. The queen and the king, I guess you should know. And that was, it was good. I liked that. We both did, I always thought. We were all a family together. And it was good, because, you know, it made monsters not want to break free and fight humans so much. Everyone was happy."

The human rolls their eyes. "Yeah, so happy it turned out like this. Used to be nice, then, huh?"

"Well, uh," says Asriel. "Usually? But, um, I mean sometimes... I dunno, there was something in their eyes... um, I know they didn't like humans much. At all. When there was talk about humans maybe being okay after all, because of them... I dunno, they usually got upset. Not right _at_ the same time. But, I mean, we were _best_ friends. I could tell that bothered them, a lot. One time I asked them why... um, they wouldn't answer me. Just, just said I didn't know anything at all about humans and I should just trust them. And I mean, I did! They were smart and brave and they _never_ cried and nothing ever bothered them. I mean, one time we tried to make pie for my dad but instead of cups of butter we used buttercups and my dad got real sick and I was scared and crying but my dad was okay and they just laughed it off because of that. And they told me big kids don't cry and they knew I could be a big kid like them."

"This story..." the human rubs their face. "I know this story. Um. Not the words. But you say it and it somewhere inside, I, I know it. Can feel it. Don't like this story. Hate this story. This isn't the end of the story. Keep telling it." They look right down at their hands, staring at them, not even turning to face him at all.

Asriel leans back and nods, breathing harder. "Um. You're right. There's more. I... pretty much tried to forget about it. But, but one day they asked me if I remembered the flowers. They, they had a plan to free all the monsters, they said. But, they'd, they'd have to die. If they died, I could take their soul and go through the barrier and get six more souls. Then we could break the barrier and everyone could go free. And I cried and they smiled and reminded me that this would be best for everyone, and we just had to be strong. And they ate the flowers and got sick and-- and I got really scared and wanted everything to stop, for them to get better. But they didn't get better. And they died. And I took their soul-- and, and they took over. They picked up their body and we went outside and I nearly-- they nearly-- we nearly-- I stopped us. I stopped us, barely, and, I got hurt, the humans outside hurt me really badly, and I took us both back underground and... I guess I died, too."

The human lifts their head, with their eyes squeezed tightly shut. They start laughing-- not like his friend used to laugh; it's high and thin and scared. "They didn't fall down," they say, gulping for air, still laughing like it's the only thing they know how to do. "We jumped." They fall onto their back, staring upward. The laughing stops but they still pant from lost breath. "It felt like such a _good_ plan. They didn't even need to hide that part of it from me. Humans-- humans can be pretty lousy."

"I know," says Asriel. He shifts, lying back beside the human. "But-- not everyone's a bad person, right? They can't be."

"I think," says the human, "I think everyone's a bad person. And a good person, too. You just gotta, you just gotta keep deciding which one you wanna be. It's... really hard. Guess it doesn't matter a lot anymore. If everything's gonna end."

Asriel looks up into the darkness. "Does it have to? They're waiting for, for something. Maybe we could find them and convince them to put everything back?"

The human closes their eyes and exhales. "You were right there," they say. "Right there. Couldn't see you-- could hear you once you were close."

"Until I said my name," says Asriel. "That... that's important, right? I could hear you. I heard you crying. I came looking."

"But you're the only one with a name," says the human, and they sit back up. "And I don't hear anyone else. Um. So what happened after. If you're dead, how are you here?"

Asriel feels his cheeks go hot beneath his fur. "That's, uh. I'm not sure, exactly." He sits up, too, ears flopping around. "I woke up one day, and I couldn't move my arms or legs anymore. Because I didn't _have_ any arms or legs. I'd turned into a, a flower. I don't know how."

The human glares at him hard enough that he has to try to not cry again. " _You're_ the flower? The big mean jerk flower?"

"Yeah, uh," says Asriel. "That's a long story, too. I woke up and didn't know what happened... and I couldn't feel anything, at all, anymore. Not for my mom, not for my dad-- no matter how hard I tried. Eventually I gave up and tried to, uh, end things, but I got scared, and when I woke up it was right back, it was the very first moment when I'd woken up as a flower. From there, I, well, I kept looking for something. Anything at all. Even just to keep from being bored. And then I'd reset when I did get bored. Until you showed up. Then I couldn't reset anymore."

They go quiet for a good long moment, before saying, "Think I'm glad that I don't know how to do it. Think I understand. Pretty sure they _do_ know how. But I've managed to stop them. For all the good it did. Still ended up where they wanted, doing what they wanted."

Asriel nods, and sighs. "I guess it doesn't much matter now. But I did some, some nasty stuff to you as a flower. I'm sorry."

The human nods and looks at him and sighs too. "Yeah... I guess if you can just make things never have happened, there's no reason to wanna be good. I, I'm not mad that you're--" they stop short. They stare right at him, looking him full in the face, eyes going wide with something like revelation. "-- that you're--"

_ 4 _

_ (NAME someone else) _

"-- you're _Flowey._ " They stare at him, look at his face as it hits him. "Flowey," they say again. "And Asriel too. Those are your names. But how...?" They just reached for it and they _knew_ it, like it had always been there, just waiting, waiting to be picked up again. They shake their head. "Never mind how, I guess. Um. Did it work for you, too?"

Asriel stares back at them, then blinks. He moves his mouth silently, and then he says back, "The name I chose for myself, after everything changed. Flowey. It was Flowey. I guess it, um, people always joked about how my dad wasn't very good at names. I guess I got that from him. But I _remember_ it now. How did I forget?"

They look up and try and figure out where the other one could possibly be. They can't feel anything. Not yet. "It's-- they're, they're holding all the names. Or stopping them. I think it-- I think they started doing it to try and take over more easily. Because-- um, without any names, without any _me_ , then _I_ was less real. Easier to push out of the way. Especially when they, um. It was weird, they'd do stuff to hurt me but at the same time do nice stuff, almost so like I'd need them more too. Like I'd be remembering... things I don't want to remember, and they'd take it away."

"Yeah, they-- do that sort of thing," Asriel says and looks down into his lap. "I mean, not exactly the same thing, they couldn't, um, stop names or memories before, but. But yeah. They always, they always liked when I needed them."

"They want to be the only one in charge," they say, closing their eyes. Somehow they're so calm. They were angry before, sure, but now? Now they aren't angry at all. "Well, they got that wish, I guess. Maybe they don't know what to do with it now. Um, this question might be mean."

He laughs, but kind of sadly. "I guess I've earned a mean question or two. What is it?"

They nod, and say, "Um, do you think they still think you're friends? I know you do, but they're pretty... um..." Not sure how to put it. Especially not to a friend.

"Ouch," says Asriel. "Um, the last thing they said to me was that they'd protect me. So, yeah, I think they still think of me as a friend. I do, too, even if they, even if they do these things. Please don't be mad because of that."

"I'm not mad," they say. It's still true. Somehow it's still true. They close their eyes and take a deep breath. "We can't just sit here," they say. "We can't. Um. Maybe they _will_ listen to you. You could be right."

Asriel looks at them, and gets to his feet. He holds out his hands for them, waiting. "Well, I'm willing to try. But you're right about one thing-- I can't hear anybody. How do you think we can find them here? There's nothing at all anywhere." They take his hands and stand up too.

They look up at Asriel then away, biting their lower lip. "Um. Well, your name worked to find me. Then I found your other name, and I know I couldn't think of any before that. Maybe, maybe we can find their name. Or others, and that might help. Maybe the grown-ups are here somewhere. They're smart."

"Well, it's better than waiting," says Asriel. He lets go with one hand and points off to his left. He holds on to their other hand tightly still. They squeeze, and hold on too. "Let's go that way."

_ 5 _

_ The First Nameless Soul _

They walk through the darkness, holding hands. It feels like they're moving even though nothing changes around them. "How far should we go?" They look around every which way, trying to tell if there's anything different anywhere. There isn't. They bite their lower lip and admit, for the first time really, "I don't see too good, so maybe I wouldn't notice if anything changes."

"Dunno," says Asriel. "Do you feel anything? Hear anything?" With his free hand he shades his eyes and squints off into the darkness. At least he can see better than they do. "Nothing looks different at all. I guess we're not lost because I don't think there's anywhere to be, but I definitely don't know where we are."

They nod at him and sigh. "Let's keep walking, I guess. Gotta be... someone, somewhere. Friends with a person like that...? Not mad, but, I, I don't get it."

Asriel takes some time to think it over as they move, and shrugs. "What about your friends? I mean, I don't know what you were like before, when it was just you, but, um, you did some stuff too."

"Never really had friends," they say, wincing. "Never really wanted people around. Just, just hit them mostly. Got mad at them. Or scared at them. Even when I wasn't mad, nobody really talked to me. Well, they were scared of me, I guess. Then down here... I guess they're friends? I never, I never really thought about it. But I spent the whole time I knew them trying to be good. _Been_ trying."

"Sounds lonely," says Asriel. He squeezes their hand. "I guess I don't know how to describe it. But I still care about them, even if I don't want them to do-- bad things. To me. Or to anyone. But I think they were scared a lot, too. Sometimes, sometimes when they didn't think I'd notice, I think they did cry too, you know? But I dunno. Maybe I was just getting used, but I don't think that's it? They always had this way of, of being able to look at people and tell exactly what they were feeling. I think that's why they were always happiest when they were just at home with me and our family."

They shudder. "Wouldn't ever wanna be able to tell that," they say. "People just wanna-- just wanna be mean or hurt you. Couldn't stand looking at people and seeing that right there." But how true is that, really? They've been wrong. Since coming down here, they've been wrong a lot about how people were gonna be. But they're monsters, after all, not humans. Monsters are made from good things.

Asriel cocks his head at them. "Maybe," he says. "I never asked how it was before they came. But I know that part of it was, well, there's a lot of monsters that _do_ want to kill all the humans, no matter what my dad said. And I bet it's scary seeing that. And I bet it's even scarier getting used to seeing that. Then what happens when you're used to it, and you stop seeing it? I could be wrong. I wouldn't wanna know _everything_ everyone's feeling, just looking at them. That's private. But you can tell when someone's happy or sad, right? What's wrong with knowing a little more?"

"Sometimes, maybe," they say, waggling one hand back and forth. "Not really good at telling that sort of thing at all. Usually get it wrong, too. But, it's hard to stop being scared. Or angry. Wait." They stop, tugging on Asriel's hand. This place is different. The air, maybe. "Something's changed here." Almost like a heartbeat.

"I don't feel anything," says Asriel. He turns both ways, ears twitching near the roots, and shakes his head. "But if you say so, at least it's something."

They nod, and let go of Asriel's hand so they can turn a full circle, trying to sound out that feeling. A little bit further, they decide. "This way. Stay quiet." They start walking again, with their eyes shut so they don't get distracted. They feel Asriel close behind them, barely even breathing.

As they walk, they do start to hear a noise, a weird sort of rumbling. Slow and steady. They open their eyes and start moving a bit faster. Asriel grabs onto their hand to keep up.

They can't help but laugh when they realize what that sound is. It's _snoring_.

"What?" says Asriel. "What's going on?"

They cover their mouth to try and stop the laughing. It dies down into giggles, and then fades. "He's here. He's here. Um, he's napping. Just gotta... figure out what to do now. Hello! Hello! Wake up!" Nothing changes. Well, maybe the snoring gets a little bit different? Maybe louder, maybe something special to get his attention. They look back at Asriel, who just shrugs. Okay. Well, maybe... They take a deep breath, and say, as loud as they can, "What sound does a nut make when it sneezes?"

The snoring stops. They squirm on their feet. Another breath, then just as loud, "Cashew!"

"Heh heh... is that you, kiddo?" The sound comes from right in front of them. "I, uh, can't see a thing, but if that is you, that was pretty good. You're really gettin' the hang of this."

All the air goes out of them and they let their shoulders fall forward. They make a tiny laugh, and say, "Um, um, thanks. Uh. Not sure what to do now, though. Uh..." They turn to look at Asriel.

He shrugs, and his ears flop a little too. "I dunno. I just introduced myself. I guess that won't work here, will it? That voice... um, the skeleton in blue, right? Hi, uh. I'm... well, I guess you wouldn't know me by name. Flowey, I guess is the one. I'm not a flower right now, though." But nothing changes at all when he says it. He keeps going. "I'm Asriel, too. If that name means anything to you."

"Asriel." says the skeleton nobody can see. "And that flower, too? You know, my brother said a flower would talk to him, sometimes. Tell him things. Advice. Predictions. You know, usual flower things."

"Yeah, uh," says Asriel. "That was me. Sorry."

"Um," they say, clearing their throat. "I don't wanna interrupt, but um, can I ask-- you don't, um. You don't happen to remember your name at all, do you?"

A long, quiet pause and a rustle of hoodie. "I don't. That's, uh, probably important right now, huh? Wish I knew what to tell ya. By the way you're talking, it sounds like that trick I pulled in the hall worked, but I guess it was too little, too late. I guess you were right, kiddo, about things not changing on their own. If I'd just... well, spilt milk, I guess. Sorry, kid."

But something inside them turns at that, a lock moving around a key. A word rises up from inside them and bubbles out their mouth, along with tears from their eyes. "... Sans?"

And the darkness ripples for a second and there he is, bending down just enough to squeeze them close. They press their face against his shoulder, between t-shirt and hoodie, and he says, "Come on, kiddo, don't cry, don't cry. You're doin' good. And you got a friend with you, too. Why don't we finish that introduction?"

"We've met," says Asriel. "Sort of. You, uh, probably don't remember though. But this time around I was watching you some. As a flower, I mean."

They still hold onto Sans, trying to stop crying, and he lets them, looking over their head at Asriel. "Rings a bell. Can't say I remember, no, but I know a thing or two. You don't seem so, uh, bitey this time. Asriel, you said? I knew a story about an Asriel, once. All of this goes way, way back, doesn't it?"

Asriel shuffles his feet against the ground. "I guess it does. I'm sorry. If I hadn't-- taken them outside, none of this would have happened."

"There, all done, kiddo?" Sans says, lifting them up and away from him. They wipe their eyes and nod. "Chin up, you're both making headway here. It's way too late now to be worrying about what happened way back when. At least, worrying about how else it coulda gone. What were you up to before you found me?"

So they all sit down in a circle (or triangle, anyway), and the two of them explain to him, how they found each other and their flimsy little plan, and what they knew about how they got here in the first place, and he nods at each little bit of it. When they finish, Sans says, "You've been thinking on your feet, good. Uh, geez. Yeah, we sort of worked out that it might have been your old buddy inside the kid here-- no way of looking into it or anything with the time we had, but there we go, I guess. Huh, if their soul fragmented and some of it hung out in their body, wonder if some of it coulda _also_ stuck with your dust and into the garden, maybe. Might explain how it was _you_ who woke up. Maybe. Obviously not enough of a soul to _count_ , but who knows." He shrugs. "Either way, your buddy's got the souls, which means _you_ ," he nods to them, "also have them. Just can't get at them. Do you feel any different since finding those names?"

They rock back on their butt, closing their eyes and trying to dig deep inside themself. The souls are there, maybe a little easier to find than before. Still can't reach them. Still can't grab them. They sigh, and say, "Can _find_ the souls. Can't reach them. Maybe easier to find than before? Dunno."

Sans moves his hands, almost pushing downward. "Slow down, slow down. You've got sentences in you, kiddo. Okay. So if it's getting easier with two names, there were four other people with us, right? I don't suppose it's gonna suddenly turn easy on us and you'll just know the rest right now, will you?"

"No," they say, folding their arms across their chest. They look at Asriel. "What about you?"

"I only really know one person in this place," says Asriel. "And... no, no luck there, either. I _wish_ they'd let me just, just. I don't know."

"Just gotta find everyone else, then," says Sans. "I know that's not exactly, uh, what you wanted to hear. But if you're here, and I'm here, I betcha everyone else is too. Wherever 'here' is. Dunno how convinced your old pal's gonna be, but you can go a long way with good food, bad jokes, and friends. Maybe they're just unhappy, or lonely, or something. And they don't seem in a rush to get rid of us."

"Guess you're right," they say, and look around every which way. "Keep going... um. Should you come too? Or wait? Or, or, I don't know."

Sans closes his sockets and leans back. "Think I've gotten enough exercise to hold me through the next year. Plus, it's you two whose soul is connected to the other one. I've done everything I can for you. Wiggle at the names and they should pop free. I'll stay here. You found me once, you can find me again if you need to, right?"

They sigh, and they nod. "I guess so. What _did_ you do, anyway?"

"Back in the hall? Uh, geez, it's complicated. There was a lot of stuff in your soul that had already been, uh, I guess the word is deleted. But that stuff sticks around for a bit before it gets cleared out, and I guess you managed to block things up enough that your soul never got around to dumping that stuff that got deleted in the trash for good. I managed to write some instructions into your soul to start un-deleting it." He shrugs. "You were pretty close, I think, to breaking through on names in the first place, but whatever Asriel's friend did to stop up the names, I think-- it woulda been dangerous if those instructions weren't there. Don't ask for more details, I really don't understand more than half of it. I had good directions."

They narrow their eyes at Sans. "You messed with my soul and you didn't know what you were doing?"

He shrugs. "I knew what I was _doing_ , I just never could've come up with this on my own. So I think you're definitely onto something with finding the names. I don't think... I don't think I could have gotten those directions I did if time itself wasn't ending if I didn't."

"You're scary sometimes," they say, shaking their head. All the time stuff and soul stuff... they'll probably never understand it. "Guess it's okay. Um. We should go." They hold out their hand for Asriel, and he puts his hand in theirs. They all stand up.

Sans steps closer, giving them one more hug, Asriel getting caught up in it too. "I'm rootin' for you, kiddo. You too, I guess. Look, before you go, remember this: if you manage to get everything put back where it belongs, you've still got seven human souls inside you. Whatever you do with them afterward... well, remember nobody has to die for that barrier to come down now. But remember too that the king swore he'd destroy humanity for what happened. You know what I think. But in the end, it doesn't really matter what I think, does it?"

They and Asriel look at each other, and they nod up at Sans. "I'll remember."

"Good," says Sans. "Good luck."

The two of them pick a direction, and start walking again.

_ 6 _

_ The Second Nameless Soul _

"Is he your new dad?" asks Asriel as they walk through the emptiness. "He seems nice after all."

They blink a couple times. "I never really thought about it that way," they say. "Um, I mean, I sleep on his and his brother's couch and eat their food and watch their TV... is that what dads do? I told you I never had one."

Asriel shrugs. "I mean, it's not like how it was with our dad. But I dunno. He hugged you like dad always did me. But shorter. And more bones. And less hair. But you get what I'm saying. What's it like not having a dad?"

"What's it like having one?" They shrug too. It's not exactly something they ever thought about. There was just-- before, and after, and no dad either way. "I dunno, it was always just normal. Lotta bad stuff happened, sure. But I don't think that was part of it."

"Well, if you say so," says Asriel. "I guess it's different all around, anyway. My mom and dad... they were always good. I'm sorry about what happened to your mom."

They don't know what to say to that. It's hard to remember her at all anymore, just bits and pieces that they hold onto as hard as they can and even then, they can't always. "Thanks," they go with. "I'm sorry about what... um. I'm sorry." That was probably a bad sentence to finish. And to start, too. But worse to finish.

Asriel just nods, and he sighs, and his palm shifts against theirs as he gets a more comfortable grip. They walk for a while, just like that. "Seven souls, huh... but it's weird. You're human, right? I thought humans couldn't absorb human souls."

"Human..." they say, sighing into the air. "I guess so. But do humans get to, to go back? Like I did? Like-- they did? I don't think so. Maybe I'm different now. Maybe I'm, I dunno, weird." Not sure they really wanna think about it, really. "Said that you died and came back. What if, what if that's what-- how do you _tell_? What's being dead _like_?"

"I don't know," says Asriel. "Sorry, but-- literally the next thing I remember after, um. Was waking up. As a flower. And then later, when I decided to end it, right before I went back the first time, I just got... I got really scared, at the end. I didn't want to die after all. And then I was back at that first moment."

They got scared, too. And they hadn't wanted to die after all. And they think back to one of the things they were told, in the snow, when the fish lady was trying to kill them. "I prayed for death and death came..." they say to themself. "That's what they told me. Said some other stuff too, but I dunno how much of it was true. We're _here_ 'cause they'll tell big lies. Maybe... maybe I did die, too. Maybe that makes a difference to souls."

Asriel nods, and squeezes their hand. "I'm sorry if you died, too."

They smile as best they can at him, and they nod, and they squeeze his hand because they don't know what else they can do. And in the distance, they can hear yelling. They just have to point the right way and not even tug at Asriel's hand and he turns, stepping faster with them.

"Hey!" yells a voice out of the dark. "Hey! If anyone's out there! Make some noise so I can hear you! I'll find you! We'll get outta here, I promise! Just hold tight!" Gotta be the fish-lady, nobody else sounds like her.

"Um, hello!" They call out to her. "We're coming! We're almost there!" The two of them walk faster, arms swinging between them, until they get to a spot that feels right to them.

"That sounds like..." the yelling stops as they get close. "The human. How did you--?"

But they don't even let her talk, they just rush to let the words fall out, "I'm sorry. Um, I'm sorry I ran away, it's my fault this happened, if I hadn't it probably wouldn't be like this right now with you gone and without a name and I, I thought it would _help_! I didn't want any of this to happen, I promise."

"Oh, geez," says the fish-lady. "Ugh. Look. It's kinda late now to be saying sorry, don't you think? I mean, I guess I believe you when you say you didn't want any of _this_ to happen. You never seemed _that_ sort of weird. But it happened. So unless you've got some other sort of plan, help me yell, and maybe we can find the others."

Asriel clears his throat. "We've, um. We've got a plan."

"Well, why didn't you _say_ so!" She heaves a big breath and says, "Okay, so what is it? Better than the last one, I hope?"

"Um," they say. She's listening, at least. Not nearly so scary as before. They take a big breath and do their best to stand up straight. "Well, I hope so. We, we found Sans already. And his name. He's waiting back where we left him because it's probably only me who can find names and that's what we're gonna have to do to get out of here. Find all of them. And then maybe once we do that, we can put everything back where it belongs. Probably if that happens we can get rid of the barrier, too. Um. Without me dying. If that's okay with you."

"Oh, for-- look, human. There's a lot of people out there who I need to protect. It's not just my _job_ to protect them. It's the most important thing in the world that I protect them. Because they can't protect themselves. And there's people out there, people like _you_ , or at least like whatever you used to be like, who are gonna hurt those defenseless people just because they can. And you killed a lot of those people. So yeah, I wanted to fight you. You needed to be _stopped_. And there were orders, too-- and sure, sure, an epic battle of revenge and justice against the creature who hurt a lot of people I care about? Yeah, that's still awesome, and I'm not sorry about that. But if you're really truly different now... you're still not someone I can protect. You're still not someone I think _should_ be protected. But if you can get us out of here-- maybe you're worth at least the space to try to get better as a person. But I'll never, _ever_ let you forget what you did. Because the minute you forget just how much it _cost_ , your little chance to be better? That's when you _stop_ being a better person. You hear me?"

Their heart feels caught in their throat, trying to take it all in. They nod into darkness, and they croak, "I hear you, Undyne."

Then she's there, and she's looking right down at them and Asriel, one-eyed and fierce even in just a tank top and faded jeans. She punches her fist into her palm. "Hah! See, even this dumb world where nothing exists knows how it is!"

They make a tremulous smile up at her, lip wobbling. But they don't cry. They won't cry, not for this, because she won't want to see it. "Thanks."

Undyne waves it away, hard enough that Asriel steps back, nearly getting clipped by her hand. "Don't. Don't you _dare_ thank me. Get going, you two. If you've got a plan, you should get on it. Tell me who your friend is later. And run! Plans go way better if you're running!"

Asriel looks at them, and they grab hands once more, and they start running.

_ 7 _

_ The Third Nameless Soul _

It's not easy for Asriel to keep up when they go at a run. He's not used to having legs at all anymore, let alone running on them. And the human's pretty fast. But he does his best, breathing hard. He thinks the human slows down a little, too, when they notice he's having trouble keeping up.

They don't say anything at all to each other this time. He doesn't know what to say to them, after what Undyne told them. There's still that part of him that wants to laugh and make fun of them for it, and he's gotten so used to _being_ that part of himself. But because of that flower-part of him... he's done even worse than the human has. And just because he reset it so that it never happened doesn't mean it doesn't count. He's still the sort of person, flower, whatever who would do that sort of thing.

Does putting everything back the way it was mean going back into the flower? Going back to-- wanting to be that way? To not feeling good or bad or happy or sad or any of it? He swallows around a lump in his throat. At least with the human around, he can't reset and ruin everything just to see if it's possible to have fun. At least there's that.

But thinking hard and not being used to having feet and running is a bad combination, and he trips, letting out a shriek. He doesn't let go of the human's hand, and they end up coming down on top of him, yelping in surprise. At least they don't weigh that much.

Their cries have barely faded when they hear someone in the darkness speaking. "What was that? Who is there?"

Oh, no, no, it's his dad, he's not ready for this one, not at all. He looks up at the human while they try and get up off of him, and he whispers, "It's-- it's my dad. I don't want him to know about, about... Flowey. Or my friend. He's their dad, too, or close enough. Please?"

The human disentangles themself, and gets up. They help Asriel up, looking at him. They only hold it for a few seconds, before looking away. "You talk, then," they say. "At least to start. He's... I don't know anything about dads. But if I had a chance with my mom... you start it. I won't tell."

"O-okay," says Asriel. He lets go of the human's hand and turns around slowly, trying to figure out the best direction to face. "Um. It's me. Asriel, I mean."

"Asriel...?" his dad's voice is as deep and rumbly as he remembers it. "But how can that be?" He doesn't sound mad or even upset. Just confused.

It's going to have to be a lie. The truth would ruin him. But what would work? They look down at the human, looking for any kind of help at all with this. "W-well," he says. "You see, I, uh..."

The human stirs, and says, looking at their feet, "I think he's here because someone remembers him. And he's really important to that someone. He's... he's helping me fix things here. Trying to put everything back the way it was. I don't... I don't know what's gonna happen to him after that, I..."

"I see," says Asriel's dad. "I cannot say that I exactly understand what is happening here. But I am glad to hear your voice after so long, Asriel. And I am glad to hear how brave you are being."

And he can't even see him. Asriel starts crying again, tears bursting out and soaking his fur. The human reaches out and pats his arm awkwardly, and they don't say anything at all. Asriel sniffles, and gulps, and manages to say, "I missed you so much, dad."

His dad's voice sounds so much smaller than Asriel ever imagined it could, when he says, "I missed you, too, my son."

The human waits, then coughs before saying, "Mister Asgore... what I did... I know that putting things back won't change what I did. Um. I'm pretty sure we're in this mess because of what I did, sort of. But, I. I..."

They don't finish their sentence and it doesn't matter to Asriel what else they were going to say, because he's _there_ , his dad is there with his big cape and his casual armour and he's bending down and Asriel rushes into his arms and it's been so _long_ since he's felt that hug, since he's gotten squeezed so tight he can barely breathe. But this close, he can tell too that his dad is breathing kind of funny. Is he crying, too? No, no, he can't be. His dad would never cry.

"Human..." says his dad. He loosens his grip on Asriel, but just enough that he can shift and look more easily at the human. "Even knowing what you did. That you have given me this chance, this moment with my son. Even if it is simply an opportunity to say good-bye. There is very little that I would not..."

The human takes a big, gulping breath. "I, I do need to ask you something. To promise something. And it's not... it's not to forget what I did. Or act like it never happened. Or to... I don't know what you would do to someone like me. But... you can't make the bad things go away. This is something else. Something after we've put things back."

Asriel turns his head now too, staying pressed in the warmth of his dad's arms. His dad nods slowly. "Go on, then."

"I'll have the souls then," says the human. Their hands flex and curl and relax. "Seven of them. Inside me. I can make the barrier go away, once... once all of that even exists again. But you have to promise me. You have to promise me not to kill all the humans. Not to, to-- whatever it is that was supposed to happen. Um. I know humans are bad. That lots of them are bad. And I know-- if they try and fight monsters, I don't want monsters to die, either. But please."

"That is an easier promise to make than you might think, human," says Asriel's dad. "You see, if it is you bearing so many souls and not myself, then it will be you with the god-like powers and not I. We could not start a war even if I wanted to. Not one that could destroy humanity. Truthfully, I do not want to hurt anyone. To go to war with anyone. All I ever wanted... was for everyone to have hope. If you can give my people that, despite everything... then I will be glad it is you who has that power, and not I. For what it is worth, I can give you that promise."

"Um," says the human. "I didn't think about that. I don't, I don't-- what do you _do_ with god-like powers?"

"If there was an answer that truly pleased me, little one... come here." He pulls one arm away from Asriel, holding it open for the human. They hesitate, but walk close enough to get swept up into the hug along with Asriel. "Perhaps Asriel will be able to advise you along the way. He has a good heart. Tell me. Is there anything more that I can do for you? Either of you?"

The human is completely buried in Asriel's dad's arms, so Asriel's the one who says, "We found your name, and that's the most important part, I think. But there's still names left to find, so we have to keep going. But, dad, I don't want..."

His dad's arms squeeze tighter, so Asriel's squished between his dad and the human. "There there," says his dad. "You can be strong. It doesn't matter if you cry, so long as you are still strong. Will you remember that for me, Asriel?"

"I will," says Asriel, and sniffles. "I'll do my best. You'll be proud of me."

"I already am, son," says his dad, right before he lets go of the both of them. "We will need to have a cup of tea when this is over, human. But for now, if you have chosen to take responsibility, you had best continue."

"Thank you, mister Asgore," says the human hoarsely, and they cough a few times, wipe at their eyes. They hold out their left hand for Asriel, waiting.

"Good-bye, dad," says Asriel. He sniffles one last time and wipes his eyes on his sleeve too.

"You are welcome, human. ... Good-bye, Asriel." He looks down at Asriel for a long time, before he turns his back on them both.

Asriel sets his hand in the human's, and they start walking away from his dad.

_ 8 _

_ The Fourth Nameless Soul _

They walk a long time before they say anything to Asriel. "That's... what's what a dad's like, huh?"

"That's what a dad's like," says Asriel. He doesn't say anything else, just keeps walking a step or two behind them, holding tightly onto their hand.

He was really... warm. And good at squeezing. Maybe Sans is like that, a little bit. Don't think they'd say that out loud to him, though. Probably wouldn't appreciate it. But thinking of him grumbling about it makes them smile. "I'm sorry."

"No!" says Asriel, tugging hard enough on their hand that they look back at him. His eyes are bright, and he says, "There's so much to be sorry for. Don't be sorry about that. That was-- I went to him, you know, as a flower. But I couldn't feel anything at all. This was different. This was so different. I-- don't be sorry about dad."

They don't understand it. But maybe they don't have to. Might just be a having-a-dad thing, or something else entirely. They just nod at Asriel, and go back to walking. Just walking. Nobody needs to trip again.

After a while, Asriel says, "Thank you. For, for what you said. And for not telling dad. Do you believe it? That they... that I'm that important to them?"

"I don't know," they say, and they sigh, and squeeze Asriel's hand. "But you believe it, right? Figure that's more important. Didn't know what else to say, what he might believe. Just... dunno, just seemed like the right way to say it."

"Well, I think..." Asriel pauses, looking up a bit as he walks. "I think it was a good thing you did. Uh. What do you think, that bit about the souls...?"

"Trying not to," they say, and shudder all over. "I don't, I don't wanna be a god. Or anything like one." They reach out for the souls. They still can't touch them, but they're there, one-two-three-four-five-six, all swirling around inside them. "What if I get mad? Will, will it be like this? Here, right now? Or something else? Something worse?"

Asriel goes quiet for a while to think about that one, long enough to make them feel butterflies in their tummy. But he says, "I dunno. You did pretty good so far, just trying not to hurt anyone. You didn't kill anybody else, and you didn't get killed. Again, I mean. ... right?"

They rub their forehead some. "Don't think so. Think all this woulda happened sooner if I had. But I wanted to, you know. I really wanted to. I just, I couldn't. If I did, then-- then your friend would have come back out. But if I was that powerful, maybe I _would_ start hurting people again. It'd be _easy_. Maybe I'd be the one to destroy the humans..."

Asriel nods, and sighs. "Yeah. If it's _easy_ to hurt people... I understand. I dunno. Maybe you could let the souls go, once the barrier's open?"

"I hope so," they say, and go back to listening for any changes in the darkness. They sigh.

When they start to hear something like a voice, they turn in its direction. The closer they get, the more it sounds like singing. They don't know the words and they can't understand them either, but it sounds like there's a lot of, of meowing in the song? They wrinkle their forehead, trying to figure it out as they walk closer. And when they look back at Asriel, all he does is shrug. Great.

"Um, hi?" they say, when they get close enough to the singing. What else could they say, really?

"Oh my god!" The singing stops all together. "You didn't-- you didn't _hear_ me, did you? Uh. Who's there?"

They look at Asriel and they both shrug at each other. So they say, "Um, I heard some singing? It's, uh. It's me."

"And me," says Asriel. "But we don't know each other. Like this, anyway. I'm, um. I'm Asriel."

A shriek from the darkness. "The human, and, uh, oh god, and Asriel. _That_ Asriel? Is that possible? _How_?"

Now the two of them blink at each other. Another shrug shared. Asriel says, "Uh, yeah, probably that Asriel you're thinking of. I, uh. I guess it's possible? I'm not sure exactly how. I was a, uh, flower for a while and I was there when... well, when this all happened."

"A flower?" says the dinosaur, it has to be her. "Oh god, oh my god, did that _work_? I thought-- oh my god, what did I _actually do_?"

They look at Asriel. Asriel looks at them. They take a breath, and they say, "You, um, turned Asriel into a flower even though he was dead?" Asriel tugs his hand out of theirs, and they don't try and stop him.

And the dinosaur lady doesn't seem to want to answer right away, either. But she says, "That, I mean. That wasn't what I was trying to do. Uh. I guess I should explain? The king, he, he wanted me to figure out what makes human souls so powerful. Maybe so we wouldn't have to get real humans in order to break the barrier. And I figured it out! Sort of. I had some blueprints I don't really understand, but I mean, building stuff is what I do. Anyway, so human souls are loaded with stuff called determination. I tried using it on monsters, but monsters aren't meant to have so much determination in them, so, uh, it went real bad. It went awful, actually."

"Awful how...?" They look down at their arms, give themselves a poke. They don't _feel_ very determined. Asriel looks at them when they interrupt, but they shake their head. He should still get to know that, but they figure she'll get there.

"Uh. Geez," says the dinosaur. "I don't think I should, I mean. Or maybe I should, I guess. They sort of melted together. All of their bodies and their souls and all of that sort of, it was bad. It was really bad. Nothing I could try and figure out would get them apart at all. But, I mean, before that happened I decided to try putting determination into something that wasn't a human or a monster at all, you know, to see if it could hold souls. I thought-- well, the king really cares about that flower patch, right? And there was the very first flower there. I'd always been told that it grew, um, right before the queen left. So I decided to try on that, and see what happened if a flower was, was determined to live."

Asriel turns away, walking a few steps. He says, "That's where I died. My dust... would have been there. Where those flowers grew. In those flowers."

They turn toward Asriel, watching to see if he tries to run away or anything. But he just stands there, head bent low. They open their mouth, but they don't know what to say to him. They look toward the direction of the dinosaur's voice, and say, "He woke up there. In that flower patch. Sans said... it might be that there was still a bit of his friend's soul left there. Not enough to _be_ a soul, but enough to, to still be him. Could that be? With the, the... determination? Alphys...?"

The name melts out of their mouth, and she's standing there, still in her lab coat, wringing her hands. "M-maybe. I don't know. There's a lot I don't know about souls. Uh, there you are! I guess, uh, was it my name? Oh, I remember my name now!"

"Yeah, we're, um. We think maybe if we find all the names, we can... find his friend," they say. She seems to know what's going on, mostly. Probably safe to be that clear about it. "Then maybe we can get them to go away and put things back and I'll fix the barrier and all that."

Asriel doesn't turn at all, but he says, "We should... we should keep going. We got her name, right? We should... I, I don't wanna think about this."

" _Wait_ ," says Alphys. "Wait, um. Before you go, I should. Uh. You should know. I do know, uh, one thing about souls. That, I mean, that you probably should too."

They look up at her, only a little ways, then back at Asriel's back. "What is it?" they say.

Alphys wipes her hands on her coat, leaving wet marks behind. "Uh. Um, you know what I said about how all the monsters with too much determination melted together? And couldn't come apart? There's, uh, there's circumstances where that can happen to human souls, too." She stops short, breathing harder. They can see her sweating even on her head.

"When?" they ask, even though they don't want to know. They look a different direction entirely.

"Like, uh, hypothetically speaking, um, that means possibly, if, uh." Alphys stops, then starts again with, "If a really determined soul got damaged from dying and bits of another just as determined soul filled in the gaps. Then, uh, once they got all mixed up they'd pretty much be one soul in the end. Just a little bit more than that one, is all. It's, uh. Not all that different than what happens to monsters, just, uh. Because a human body has a lot of matter to it, _that_ stays all intact. But the soul's got no matter to it, so that part's not much different, and, uh, I know with monsters, if the different parts that got combined stay, um, too determined to come apart, that tension actually, uh. Everything collapses in on itself. And turns into a blob of nobody at all... more or less..."

They close their eyes. "You were right, Asriel," they say. "We shoulda kept going."

"Yeah. I just. I need a minute."

They keep their eyes shut. "Me, too."

But Alphys is still there, and she says, "Uh. L-look. I know when I met you, uh, you were really... I, I can't make anything better for you. But if you ever, uh, you know, need to talk. You don't have to... oh, god, I'm just making it worse, aren't I? Sorry, I, I'm such a screw-up."

Their shoulders fall, and they let out a big breath. "It's not your fault," they say. "I don't... I don't wanna die again. Right now, anyway." Not that living sounds all that great right now, either. Stuck this way... what if they can't let go of the souls? What if _they_ won't let the souls go? What then?

Alphys' coat rustles, and they feel her pushing a tissue into their hand. "That's, uh, you know. That's better than you think. Just, uh, practice that?"

"I guess." They blow their nose on the tissue, and shove it into their pocket after. They open their eyes slowly. "Asriel?"

"Yeah," says Asriel, straightening. Alphys moves to him and gives him a tissue, too, and he uses it. "I'll do my best. We should get going. Just one more, I think?"

"I hope so," they say. "Um. Thanks, I guess, for saying that stuff."

"Don't thank me," says Alphys, shaking her head at them. "I know that sort of thing is... yeah. I'm sorry."

Asriel holds out his hand for them, and they slide their hand into his. They say, "You... you didn't hafta say it. You coulda just let it be a surprise. And, and you were trying to help, right? Th... thanks."

They start walking, but not very fast.

_ 9 _

_ The Fifth Nameless Soul _

There's nothing to say to each other at all this time. They think Asriel's holding on tighter than he was before. But that's fair, since they're holding on tighter, too. Like that, they just walk.

Asriel's friend... it's hard to imagine anyone as mean as that having friends at all. _They_ didn't have friends, after all. But maybe it's a different kind of mean, they guess. Doesn't sound like they were much for punching. Heh. Pretty much all the punching was just them, wasn't it?

And they're good at saying things so that you feel them. They were really, really good at knowing exactly the thing to make them feel bad. Could be they know how to make people feel good, too. Might be _easy_ to make friends that way. Might be easy to trick people into thinking you're good.

If it's easy to be bad, it's harder to be good. They know that much. They look down their arm, to their hand, to where Asriel's hand is holding onto theirs. He seems so _nice_ now that he's not a flower. But it was easy to be mean as a flower, so he was mean. And he'd had a good teacher for being mean, even if he hadn't known it.

They wonder how nice they seem to people who didn't watch them hurt so many people.

Their voice is so quiet, they don't realize they've started talking until after they finish saying, "I don't want to be a blob of nobody."

"I... I don't think they do, either," says Asriel. "I don't, I, I know they're probably not a good person. Any more than you are. But you're trying? Maybe they would, too... I, I don't know. I'm sorry. I don't know. I don't want to be an experiment. I don't want-- I'm not even supposed to be _me_ , am I? She didn't even know what she..."

They don't know what to say to him. There's no way to make that better. They walk, and they walk,and they wonder, if, since it seems safe right now, it might be better just to leave things this way. No fighting, no blobs of goo. No flowers. They don't say anything. That doesn't seem like something they should say.

But they're very tired. Their hand sags in Asriel's grip, and he doesn't try and hold on tighter, and they wonder if he feels the same way. They let out a big, heavy sigh.

"That's a very big sigh, mysterious voice!"

They nearly jump out of their skin, and Asriel makes a gasp. They turn and turn, trying to find the direction the talking came from. "Um," they say. "There you are."

"Here I am!" says the voice. Must be the tall skeleton, even if it wasn't just that he's the last one left. That they know about. "The great... um... me! Is here to save the day! Is that you, human? I'm afraid I can't see you!"

They should have thought that he'd be the last one they'd find, but it's not like they were ready for it, either. They're not exactly sure they're ready for him. "It's me. Um. Hi?"

Asriel speaks up, too. He says, "Uh, howdy. I'm, I'm with the human, too."

"Really?" says the skeleton. They can hear bones clattering together. "Human, are you making friends? I'm so proud of you! I always knew you had it in you!"

They look to Asriel. " _Are_ we friends?" they ask. "Um. We just met, and, uh, you know how it was before."

"I dunno," says Asriel, and shrugs. "You seem... I guess we are? Things are weird right now. I'd... I'd be glad to have a friend right now, who's here."

They make another sigh, and look down at their feet. He's not really like the flower, and Asriel seems okay. But he's _their_ friend. Still... "I guess we're friends," they say.

"You see!" says the skeleton. "And you're sounding much less weird when you talk, too! You know, just between us, human, I was really worried about how you were coming along! But you're doing great!"

"I don't think we're doing that great, Papyrus," they say, the name just falling out on its own like a tooth. There he is, taller than if they sat on Asriel's shoulders. "Um, all of this, this with the nothing, that happened because I ran away and tried to, to do what I was saying I was going to. And-- and I think I can put things back but I don't, I don't know if they'll be okay after."

"Oh, there you are!" says Papyrus, and he bends down to be closer to their eye level. "I was worried sick when I found out you ran away! I'm so happy to see you. Uh, what do you mean this happened because of that?"

They reach out once he gets low enough and grab onto him. Papyrus just goes with it, and his arms come up right around them, squeezing tight. "Um," they say. "I, I got tricked. It was a trick to get at the souls the king had, and make... make everyone go away. It only happened at all because I ran away. But Asriel found me, and we... we figured out how we might be able to put everything back. We've found everyone, at least, who was with us when... when the souls got taken. "

Papyrus squeezes them again and lets go, saying, "But that sounds great! Maybe you made a big mistake, but you figured out how to fix it through the power of cleverness and friendship! That was very Papyrus of you! What's the matter?"

"It's, um, complicated," they say. They look back at Asriel, who shuffles his feet quietly. "The, the person who tricked me. They probably don't want to put everything back. And they're the only one who can. Asriel thinks we might be able to talk them into doing it, but, but even if we can, I. I don't know what's going to happen to me. They're, they've been pretty mean to me. They did a lot of bad stuff. And they might want to keep doing bad stuff. And, and I might want to keep doing bad stuff."

"I think we can do it," says Asriel, but he sounds small and tired. "I know it's not going to be easy. But it's still going to be worth trying, isn't it?" He stands next to them, looking up to Papyrus.

"Of course it is!" says Papyrus. He plants his hands on their shoulders, squaring them. "Listen, human. When we first met, you were hurting everyone you saw! I was a little scared, even, but you decided to not do a violence! And you kept not doing violences! Even when Undyne was trying to kill you, and I bet that was really scary! She doesn't even have to try to be scary. But you kept it up, and you did your puzzles and you watched TV with us and you got a lot better at talking and you're even better now, and you're making friends and everything. So! If you say the way to fixing everything is to stop someone who's been mean and scary, well! I don't know who would be a better choice for convincing them! Except me, of course. But it's your plan! And your big moment! And I don't want to take that away from you! But you know a lot about being convinced to not hurt people anymore!"

"I, I guess that's true," they say. They can't follow every little bit he says but the gist is kind of clear to them, anyway. "But-- I don't know. I don't think it'll be that easy. I was, I was really scared, too. What if I stopped being bad just because I was scared?"

Papyrus doesn't let go of their shoulders. "But you still stopped doing bad things! That's the important part, human! Being a great person is habit-forming! You just need to be great a little bit at a time, and then sooner or later you'll be great _all_ the time! Look at me! I'm living proof!"

Asriel cracks a smile first. He says, "I always knew you were great. You-- uh. I mean. I know a flower who told me that you're pretty good to hang out with. And he didn't like a lot of people."

"Oh!!" says Papyrus, turning toward Asriel. "You know my friend? No one ever believed me when I said I was friends with that flower! Tell him hi if you see him!"

"Yeah, of course." Asriel's head bobs up and down, and that tiny smile stays in place.

But they heave out one last sigh, and they say up to Papyrus. "I don't know if I can be as good as you. You're so... so... you know how to make me feel better. And I don't know if I can do that for anyone."

Papyrus makes a thoughtful noise, then shakes his head. He gives them a very firm look. "Listen to me, human," he says. "I know it can be hard to believe in yourself. But! You don't have to! Just believe in me! Because I believe in you! Believe in my believing in you! Can you do that, human?"

It does... sound a bit easier, put that way. Strange as it seems. They nod halfway, and say, "I, I think so."

"And you too-- Asriel, right! I believe in you, too! If you're the human's friend, then that's nearly as good as being my friend! So I know between the two of you, you'll get this straightened out! And then when it's done, we can all have a picnic together! Won't that be great?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to go," says Asriel. "It, it would be nice if I could."

"Great!" says Papyrus, standing back up, letting go of their shoulders. "I can't wait! I'll make so much spaghetti for everyone! But you need to fix things first, don't you?"

Big breath. "Yeah," they say. "We do."

Asriel nods, then steps forward, wrapping his arms around Papyrus' legs, collecting a hug of his own. Papyrus bends back down so he can do the hug right, squeezing Asriel once, good and hard, before letting go. "Okay," says Asriel.

Holding hands, the two of them set out into the darkness to look for the one person here who doesn't want to be found.

_ 10 _

_ The Last Nameless Soul _

"You were friends?" they ask, once they're well and truly alone again. They glance over at Asriel, watching him.

"Papyrus?" Asriel asks. They nod back at him. "Oh, uh, I guess as much as I could be friends with anyone as a flower," he says. "He took a lot longer to get boring than most people. And, um, even when he got boring it was usually more fun to see what he did when I told him stuff rather than just, uh, you know. He, uh. Yeah. I guess we were friends. His brother, um. Well. I mean this time, everything's fine, but other times around, when he found me, that was, um."

They nod at this, because that makes perfect sense to them. "He, um. Sans can be scary sometimes. He isn't usually at all but sometimes he'll say something that I guess is a warning or he'll do this look and it'll be scary. I don't even know why, he's funny and he always brings extra food back when he goes out to eat and he's really lazy and he helped me get all the dust together and he seems really smart and he's never _done_ anything scary except. Except... um. I don't remember. It was before I, um. Decided to really try hard to stop. But there was something... what was it?"

Asriel makes a sound and walks some more before saying, "I don't think you have anything to worry about. He's, uh, he made me need to reset everything a few times. So, yeah. He's scary. When he wants to be. But I don't think he wants to scare you."

"I guess not," they say. "But-- but what did he do?" What could Sans do, exactly? They can't picture him doing, well, anything that would make Asriel as a flower have to reset. But it's not like they've known him all that long, they guess.

"Let's not talk about it," says Asriel. "I dunno what his deal is, but he's... he's good at what he does. He just doesn't do much."

A giggle escapes their mouth at the last. "He likes to do nothing. I think it's his favourite thing. He's actually pretty cozy to watch TV with. I dunno how he's so cozy since he's all just skeleton. He'd probably just say magic."

Asriel nods, and he says, "It could be. Magic is like that. Magic does a lot of stuff like that. Do humans not have magic? Didn't humans make the barrier with magic?"

It's hard to remember, so it takes them some time before they say, "Um, I don't know a lot about the history. But not every human can do magic at all. I guess that's why there's a word for a human who does magic? Wizards, I mean. A monster who does magic is just a monster, that's not special. Or is there a word for monsters who are extra good at magic?"

"Not really," says Asriel. He shrugs. "I guess if a monster was even better at magic than a monster should be, they'd be a wizard, too." He scratches the back of his head, and says, "Maybe Sans is a wizard."

They shrug, chewing on that one for a bit. They don't know what it would take for a monster to be a wizard. But they're not a monster so it probably doesn't matter if they know or not.

They keep walking, and nothing around them changes. No sound, and they don't see anyone. Not that they'd expect to see anyone yet. But still.

Nothing even _feels_ different. They slow to a halt, toes curling up in their shoes, and let go of Asriel's hand. They turn a circle, putting their hand over their eyes to try and see further, for what good it does. Everything's blank in every direction, so they don't even get to see a blur.

"Have you found something?" asks Asriel. He turns around too, but shrugs after going a full circle.

They close their eyes and squeeze their hands into fists. Let go, then squeezes them again. They start thinking out loud. "Alphys said my soul and the bits of theirs are all mushed together. That it can't come apart anymore. All one soul and we're stuck together forever." They open their eyes and look at Asriel. "I don't-- I don't think we need to go anywhere. I think they're right here. I think they've _been_ here the whole time."

Asriel looks back at them, then glances around. He doesn't say anything, but frowns. He lifts his hands up a little and drops them.

"So, um, if you're out there, or in here, or whatever it is," they say into the emptiness, "maybe you could just come out? It'll save us a lot of trouble walking and looking and all of that."

There's nothing for just long enough for them to feel really dumb about talking at nobody. And then from the air comes a sickly-sweet voice saying, "Does that make you feel clever? It's just what Alphys told you."

"None of your business how it makes _me_ feel," they say. "Maybe she did say it. Does that make it less true?"

"No. But its truth means that how you feel is _every bit_ my business." A pause. "But you asked for me at last. Here I am. Now what?"

"Stop it," says Asriel. His head jerks around, following the sound of his friend's voice. They bite their lip just watching his face move, wish they were any good at finding meanings there. "Just, just stop it. Please don't do this. Put everything back the way it was, please."

"Back the way it was? Or the way they _should be_?"

Hands back into fists, tight. Not letting them go. Their voice goes high, breaks a little as they say, " _What do you mean by that_?"

"I'm not talking to _you_. I don't need you anymore. Not for anything. _Asriel_. With these souls, I'll have complete control of the timeline. We can be together again."

Asriel looks down at his feet, and they can hear his breathing get funny. "Together," he says. "I'm dead. You're dead. Can you go that far back? Do you even know how far back that is? Because I don't. Can you give me a soul again? Can you give _yourself_ one? One that isn't stolen?"

They turn toward Asriel, their lip shaking. Their hands squeeze even tighter, nails digging into their palms.

"What's it to you? You're doing well now, aren't you? I can sustain you with what I have. I can keep you _you_. More or less, anyway. As for this-- well, it's not like the other six came from me anyway. What's one more? If I just snuff this little rat's identity once and for all, well, there's no need to worry about it fighting so hard that I dissolve. Or-- the two of you have been talking, haven't you? Perhaps you could convince it not to struggle further."

" _Asriel--_ " they uncurl one hand and reach out toward him, just for a second, then drop their hand. Even if he is their friend, sort of, in a roundabout way, they haven't been friends for long enough for it to matter. Not with the friend he died for calling out to him right here. This is it, then. They take a breath. It was what they wanted, wasn't it? In the end? But the butterflies are back in their tummy.

Asriel turns around, looking off into the darkness. "I don't like this idea," he says. "Any more than I did the last one."

Silence from the dark. They look at Asriel's back, tummy still churning.

"You want them to die," Asriel says, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Just say it. You want _them_ to die. Not 'it'. You didn't have a problem with wanting people to die when it was a lot of them. And what about that? You've got seven souls-- what's going to happen to everyone who _isn't_ us?"

Something like a breeze pushes past them. From the dark, the sweet voice says, "What happened to 'kill or be killed', then? Creatures like us wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that got in our way. We still understand each other. Even now. Even with what we've become."

"You remind me what it feels like to have a soul, and you say that?" Asriel makes a sound like a sniffle. "Do we still understand each other? I-- I was sure they were wrong about you. I was sure of it. Ha... haha. I guess the joke's on me, isn't it?"

The silence again, and they feel something loom closer against them. They take a step back. From the darkness, the voice says, syrup-sweet, "Fuck you, Frisk." And there they are, standing just a foot or two in front of them, a little taller and a little older, hair neater and paler. They have a frozen smile on their face. It never budges, even between words. "Fine, then. Fine. You don't want anyone to get hurt, right? Just relax then, and let me have the body. Then I'll go back to when all this started, with the two of us. And nobody has to get hurt."

Frisk takes another step back, trying to look anywhere but at that face, that smile. "Asriel's already the flower by the time that I fell. By the time that I _died_."

They shrug. "I can work something out. With these souls? I can do _anything_."

"You can't stop being the person who killed my mom," says Asriel. "Even if you go back to make it never have happened. Even if you make me forget. You'll still be that person. And if you make me forget-- and I'm Flowey again? There'll be nothing to stop you from killing, from killing _everything_. You're already this close to doing it right now, and with all those souls in you? You say you want to be together again? No. No, if you're the person Frisk thinks you are, and not the person that I believed in. Then _I don't want to be together_."

"Frisk killed her too, you know," they say. Their voice is still all sugary, but there's something weird about it this time. They turn away from Frisk, and lift a hand toward Asriel. "Do you want me to say I'm sorry about her? I will, if you want. I don't know what it is you believe in. It's been so long, for both of us..."

Asriel takes a step further away from them. "I don't think I'd believe you if you said you were sorry. I don't... I don't want you to do this. Please. Chara, please. Just, just put everything back."

Frisk can almost touch the souls. They can feel them everywhere now. Maybe, maybe if they were to reach out... but no, not with Chara here, alert. That'll just lead to the blob of nobody.

"But if I do that--" Chara steps closer to Asriel, who doesn't budge. "Asriel, I'm not losing you. I'm not letting go. I'm not dying again. Not with you here, as you, as a flower, whichever. So long as it's you somehow, so long as it's me somehow. We can still..."

"It's not my soul!" Asriel turns around to face Chara, and he's not crying anymore. He steps toward them. "Don't you _get_ it? You don't get to ask me if it's okay to take someone else's soul! Not even if it's to be with me again! I, I wish I could tell you it's okay. But it's not. And you know it's not."

Frisk looks back down at their feet. "But so long as we're both here, we'll, we'll turn into a blob of nobody." They shudder a little, shoulders shaking. "Maybe it _would_ be better if I--"

"No!" Asriel spins toward Frisk. "No, not after all this, after everything. I don't-- I don't want you to die, either."

Chara shrugs, and their smile holds. "If Frisk is willing, it would solve a lot of problems."

"No, it won't," says Asriel, crossing his arms. "You both know that there's another way. It doesn't _have_ to be just one of you. She, she said it's just if you're both trying too hard to come apart that it'll happen. So, so if you just..."

Frisk looks down, shaking their head. "They didn't... they didn't make me do most of what I did. But some of it-- yeah. And aren't we here at all in the first place because they have no problem doing... doing bad things? I don't want, I want to be _good_."

Asriel steps closer to Chara. "What I believe in..." He looks up at them, up at their glued-on smile. "I believe you're the person who I was friends with. I believe you can be good, too. I believe-- you don't have to hurt anybody. Please? You don't need to, to destroy the humans or anything else like that you were planning. Chara, please."

Chara steps back, their hands coming up to squeeze their arms. "You wouldn't say that if you knew what I-- you wouldn't say that."

Frisk's laugh comes out shaky and nervous. "I would. I don't know what happened to you, but, I. I know they haven't changed. Humans are still, still terrible. Even this long after the ones who did whatever they did to you are dead. But--" They wipe at their eyes, even though their hand comes away completely dry. "But that's not something I get to decide. It's not something that you get to decide."

"What, is that something that skeleton told you?" The edges of Chara's lips twitch. "He doesn't _do_ anything. He can sit on his high horse all day long, it still won't change anything about humans. And he'll still never have known any. Except you, and you're no prize, yourself."

"He did say it. But I think it's right. We don't get to decide if people deserve to be killed or not. No matter what they did to us. I'm, I'm pretty bad," says Frisk, looking down at their hands. They slowly uncurl their fingers so their palms are flat upward. "But I'm trying to be better. It's... I think it's okay to be scared. Or angry. Or lonely. Or even to hate people. So long as you just, just keep trying to be good."

Chara glances to Asriel, then back at Frisk. "You wouldn't even kill that aunt of yours, given the chance? No, I suppose you wouldn't. How naive. This world is just going to exploit you. You need to protect yourself."

"Killing everyone isn't protecting yourself!" Frisk frowns up at Chara, letting their hands fall to their sides. "Not... not saying we have to be dumb about things. Just... don't have to kill people. Don't get killed. We should, uh. Probably let the souls go at the end."

They roll their eyes at Frisk. "Oh, for-- what, really? Why do _that_ , exactly? Asriel, you're really going to insist that I not just-- no, never mind. Never mind."

Frisk shrugs. "If we can do anything at all, I'm gonna get mad, or you're gonna get-- whatever it is you get, and we're gonna do something bad." They reach out to feel at the souls a little more, and adds, "And they're not ours. We shouldn't keep them. They should get to, to do whatever souls do, when they're done. Just... open the barrier and let them go."

Chara lifts their hands and runs them through their hair, pushing it backward. "Asriel, is this the only thing-- no. _Frisk_. You're asking me to trust you. Don't you think that's asking too much of me, all things considered?"

"I think," says Frisk, "that with everything that happened. Me trusting you is even more too much. But I don't-- I don't want to be that, that blob. I don't want to be nobody anymore. Right now, I don't even want to die, and that-- that's not going to stay that way. I have to try to believe you wouldn't, wouldn't use that to get rid of me. Don't act like it's just a hard thing for _you_ to do!"

Chara turns to face Asriel entirely, watching his face before turning away from both him and Frisk. "Let's say for the sake of argument that I go along with this. That _we_ go along with this. We'll be playing the part of the... the 'good person'. But once everything's back the way it was before, Asriel will be Flowey again. Perhaps you can hold onto yourself for a while, Asriel, but without a soul, without something _like_ a soul, you're going to be as you were. As Flowey. You won't be able to reset, no, but-- kill or be killed, all over again."

Frisk curls their fingers halfway, and says, "Wait. Asriel-- what did Sans say? That maybe you were you, as Flowey, because maybe you had bits of their soul left in with your dust?"

"Something like that," says Asriel, and he sounds awfully tired. "But it's not enough to _be_ a soul, otherwise I'd still have felt, well, anything. And I don't... I don't want to steal anybody's soul. You know that."

"It's not about stealing," Frisk says, trying to think as hard as they can. "But it's... um, if I have some of their soul, and you have some of their soul... I, I don't know anything about how this works. Maybe I'm being dumb. Could you-- could you hop in? You wouldn't have to be a flower anymore, I mean, I don't know if it's better, but..."

Chara rubs their face with their hand, and turns away from the both of them. "Asriel..." they say.

Asriel lets out a breath. "I, I need to think," he says. "Nobody talk for a little. Please?"

It was a bad idea. Of course it was a bad idea. They barely even _know_ Asriel, how could they think this was a good idea? Well, they don't know Chara at all. But they're already stuck together, so it's not like they have a _choice_. Why would anyone else even want to become part of, of someone like them, or someone like Chara? And Frisk can't even figure out why they thought it would work at all in the first place. They and Chara have barely managed to agree on any way of doing things, and that's with the chance of them turning into some sort of soul goo if they can't.

Asriel's voice is so soft Frisk can barely hear it. "Chara...?"

"I don't care," says Chara, and their voice sounds weird. It almost sounds like it's wobbling. "I mean-- you do, you do still understand me, after all this time. If you were there, it might not-- it might not be so bad. But, I. Asriel, I don't want to give up!"

"You won't be you," says Asriel, turning and approaching Chara. "And I won't be me, if you don't. Is that really... giving up? Or is it something else?" He holds out a hand to them. "It's still... mostly Frisk's soul, isn't it? Even if we add however much I have. They don't have to take it. And we shouldn't, we shouldn't be rude. Even if we all have to live together. Especially if we do. It's just... being polite, right?"

Chara's shoulders sag, and they look down at Asriel's hand. The smile slowly drops off their lips. "I don't have to be happy about this, do I?"

"I hope not," says Frisk. They cough, and look to Asriel. "Um. Sorry."

"It's okay," says Asriel. "This isn't a thing to be happy about. But maybe it's the best we can do? That counts for something. But-- I don't think we should let people know. If it works."

Chara sighs, and slips their hand into Asriel's. "Sans knows enough to ask questions, and he will. I suppose Alphys does, too. And she's the only one who knows enough about souls to know if it's gone wrong. Dad... can't know."

"You can't call him 'dad'," says Frisk. “If he can't know. That, that sounds right about the others. Okay. Okay, what do we do?"

Asriel extends his empty hand to Frisk. They take a deep breath and walk over, sliding their hand into Asriel's. Then they look to Chara.

"We're holding hands," they say. "Fine, I suppose we all hold hands. After that just close your eyes. Try to relax. I know what I did to put things in this place. I know how to put them back. And I want, I want-- give me the chance to feel this last thing as only myself. Since it's so important to you, I'm sure you can figure out how to deal with the souls yourself. We start with trust, right?" They hold out their hand for Frisk.

Frisk looks down at Chara's hand, squinting. The hand's shaking. They lift their own hand and look at it, watch their fingers quiver too. Their breath skips hard enough that they just hold it instead. Frisk lowers their hand into Chara's. It's cold, clammy and sweaty and even when the fingers close around their hand, the grip is flimsy.

"It's gonna be okay," says Asriel, and Frisk can't tell who's he saying it to. "I'll be here with you. You don't have to be alone."

The souls start moving deep inside Frisk. They figure it's to Chara's will, because they certainly don't know what it is they're doing. Here and here and power moving from one to another, everything getting brighter. They weren't planning on closing their eyes like they were told, but they have to after only a few seconds.

"We could have been a god." Chara's sweet voice drips like tears over them.

"None of us should be a god," says Asriel. His hand squeezes theirs. "I'm scared."

Frisk nods, eyes tight against the brightness. "It's okay to be scared," they say again. And they find themself squeezing Chara's cold, limp hand too. The shaky fingers grab tighter against their hand, holding on instead of just being held.

Everything gets so bright even keeping their eyes shut as tight as they can doesn't stop anything at all. And they're so focused on that they don't even notice when they stop feeling hands in theirs. But the souls are there, are everywhere in them and around them, and why are they even keeping their eyes shut anymore? They open them, and see the places where everyone _will be_ , are not yet, in this moment captured out of time, and they see the flimsy little barrier that stands between them and the outside.

They lift their hands to their lips and they blow across them, and the barrier melts away like fog, leaving only starlight dripping through from the other side. And one by one they catch each borrowed soul in between their hands, and they blow them out through into the night air.

Just before the last one leaves, with that bit of power, they release the moment to continue, to let the world resolve back into being, to let the sounds of confusion ring through the air.

With just one soul inside them, plus a little bit more, they drop to their knees and sink to the floor. They're so tired, they let go.


End file.
